This paper has been accepted and is currently in production.
It will appear shortly on 10.2196/83073
The final accepted version (not copyedited yet) is in this tab.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Expected Competencies and Personal Attributes of Digital Navigators to Support Digital Mental Health Care: A Focus Group and Interview Study With Patients and Health Care Professionals
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital mental health apps (DMHA) and in particular digital therapeutics (DTx) offer promising opportunities to support mental health care. However, their effective use in outpatient settings in Germany remains limited. To overcome this gap, the role of Digital Navigators (DNs) has been introduced – individuals who support patients and health care professionals in selecting, using, and integrating DMHA into care. Despite increasing interest in this role, there is limited evidence on the competencies, knowledge, and personal attributes required for DNs to work effectively in mental health settings.
Objective:
The study explores the expected competencies, knowledge areas, and personal attributes that DNs need to effectively support the implementation and use of DTx in outpatient mental health care.
Methods:
As part of the pre-study of the DigiNavi study, a qualitative study was conducted involving n=35 participants (n=7 general practitioners (GPs), n=8 general practice patients, n=11 outpatient psychiatrists/psychologists, n=9 psychiatric patients) from different general practices and psychiatric outpatient clinics in Germany. 17 semi-structured interviews and 4 focus groups were conducted to explore expectations of DNs. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Results:
Participants emphasized that DNs should combine strong interpersonal skills (empathy, patience, sensitive communication) with technical and basic clinical competencies. Most favored DNs as integrated clinical team members (e.g., medical assistants), citing their existing patient relationships, but noted time and training constraints. Key expectations included the ability to support patients with DTx use, adapt communication to individual needs, and convey data privacy information clearly. Foundational knowledge of mental health conditions and sensitivity to crises were considered important for identifying warning signs and escalating concerns. While DNs were seen as essential intermediaries between patients, healthcare professionals, and DTx, participants highlighted the necessity for clearly defined roles, structured training, and realistic expectations to prevent role overload and enable sustainable implementation in outpatient mental health care.
Conclusions:
DNs require a special skillset that bridges clinical understanding, digital expertise, and interpersonal competence. Our results lay the groundwork for developing training curricula and implementation strategies that align with real-world expectations for the DN role. Defining these core competencies is essential for supporting the sustainable and effective integration of DMHA into mental health care. Clinical Trial: German Clinical Trial Register: DRKS00034327, https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00034327; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06575582, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06575582
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.